Communications

It’s Not About You

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, writing
It’s annual report time.  I know – yawn.  Annual reports can be a great way to engage with your donors, but they often put you to sleep. One problem is they tend to be too focused on the organization.

How are you making a difference?
I recently received a “Milestones 2013” report from a nonprofit.  It included a list of accomplishments that made them sound as if they were bragging about how great they are.

Don’t just list accomplishments.  Let your donors know how they are helping you make a difference.

Instead of only saying you expanded your tutoring program to serve middle school students, let your donors know why that’s important.  Tell a story about Kevin, a 7th grader who struggled with math, until he started meeting with Jeff, his volunteer tutor.

Instead of just saying you opened a mammography suite at a community health center “extending optimal care to members of underserved and minority communities,” give a specific example of what that means.  Will this make it easier for neighborhood women to receive mammograms?   The more personal and specific you can be, the more you will connect with your donors, and that’s what you want.

The same problems arise in newsletters. Your donors want to hear success stories and aren’t as interested in grants you received or if your executive director received an award.

You should certainly acknowledge your major grants, but show how that will make a difference.  Your $50,000 grant from the Do Good Foundation will allow you to expand your afterschool program to five more schools. Now these students will have a safe place to learn new skills and make new friends.

What do your donors want?
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of being donor-centered.  Think about what your donors want to hear.  One way to find out is to survey them. 

Collect information about your donors in your database.  You can also create donor personas or profiles.  

How to Develop Donor Personas for Your Nonprofit

Create Donor Personas
Speak your donors’ language
That means not using jargon, the passive voice, and words you have to look up in a dictionary. Just because something makes sense to you, doesn’t mean your donor will understand what you are trying to say. 

One way to help you be more personal when writing to donors is to pretend you are explaining something to a friend.  Do you use jargon and the passive voice when talking with your friends?  I hope not.  In most conversations, you are also probably not focusing too much on yourself.

Not all donors are the same
You might need to send different materials to different types of donors. The traditional multi-page annual report with the donor list etc is not relevant for most of your donors.
Instead send your smaller dollar donors an oversized postcard with photos, quotes, accomplishments, and thank you messages. Postcard Annual Report Your donors are busy and don’t have time to read a long report. This way you can capture their attention in an instant.

If you want to produce a slightly longer report, here’s a great example of a donor-centered “gratitude report” created by the Agents of Good. Annual Reports

Be donor centered

Keep focusing on what’s best for your donors. Remember, it’s about them, not you.

Photo by Naaman Saar Stavy via Flickr

Shower Your Donors With Love

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, writing

Valentine’s Day will be here soon, and what a perfect time to thank your donors and show how much you appreciate their support.

Fundraising expert Pamela Grow recommends a minimum of 12 touches a year (you should aim for more). If you haven’t shown gratitude since you sent your year-end thank you letters, you need to do that soon. You did send thank you letters after your year-end appeal, didn’t you?

Whether you want to send something out on Valentine’s Day is up to you. But do something fun and creative to show appreciation in February. The holidays are over, and there’s still a lot of winter left for many of us to endure.

Here are some ideas.

Create thank you photo

A great photo can capture your donor’s attention in an instant. Here are a few examples of thank you photos.

Network for Good Thank You Photo


Along with your photo, include a brief thank you message. You can send this via email and post it on your homepage and on social media.

Share an update or success story
In addition to saying thank you, share a brief update or success story. Emphasize how you couldn’t have helped someone without the donor’s support. If you included some 2014 goals in your year-end appeal, sharing regular updates of your accomplishments is a great way to engage.

Send a card
Handwritten notes mean the world to donors. You may not have the budget to send cards to all of them. If not, send them to your most valuable donors. These may not be the ones who give you the most money. Do you have donors who have supported your organization for more than three years? How about more than five years? With retention rates continuing to plunge, you don’t want to lose these valuable donors.


Overall, I think nonprofit organizations can do a better job of thanking their donors. Here a couple of ways to do that.

Make your messages personal

Be personal and conversational when you thank your donors. Don’t use jargon or other language they won’t understand. Write from the heart, but don’t be overly sentimental. Give specific examples of how your donors are helping you make a difference.

Make an investment to thank your donors
If your budget doesn’t allow you to mail handwritten cards, is there a way you can change that? You may be able to get a print shop to donate cards. You can also look for additional sources of unrestricted funding to cover cards and postage.

Maybe you need a change of culture. Getting your board, all staff, and volunteers involved in thanking your donors will make a huge difference.

Keep it up
Keep thinking of ways to thank your donors! You can’t say thank you enough. Do it at least once a month.

At certain times of the year, like Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving, people expect to receive messages of gratitude, but imagine how surprised your donors might be if they receive something in May or August?

How are you thanking your donors?


Photo by Enchant_me via Flickr

How Well Are You Thanking Your Donors?

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, writing
Are nonprofit organizations doing a good job of thanking their donors?  I decided to conduct a little test after doing our year-end giving to see how well those organizations thanked me.  I made all the donations online.
All five organizations I donated to do good work, but could do a better job of thanking their donors.  Unfortunately, I don’t think they are the only guilty culprits.  What did I discover and how can nonprofit organizations do better?  Read on.
ALL donors should get a thank you letter, card, or phone call
More people are donating online now, but that doesn’t mean they should be cheated out of a nice thank you letter when all they get is an auto reply. 
One of the of the organizations sent me a letter with a handwritten note (good!) and another one sent a handwritten thank you card (even better!).  The others sent email auto replies. No one called me.
When someone donates online, there should be a three-part thank you process.  First, the donor is taken to a thank you landing page, then they get an automated email response, and finally they receive a thank you by mail or phone.
I don’t know if I would have received something in the mail if I had donated by mail, but that shouldn’t matter.
Create better thank you landing pages
Your landing page is your first opportunity to say thank you and most of these look like Amazon receipts.  Two of the organizations used PayPal, a generic third party site, although to their credit, these nonprofits thanked me by mail.
One of the landing pages opened with “Thank You Ann!”  That’s a good start or say,You’re incredible.  Include an engaging photo and a specific example of how the donation will be used. 
Make it more personal. After that, you can include the transaction summary, tax-deductible information, tracking number, etc.
Show your donors how they are helping you make a difference
Most of the thank you messages I received didn’t give specific examples of how my donation makes a difference.  I realize your nonprofit may have a number of programs, but choose something specific.  Will a donation buy a family a week’s worth of groceries or provide a child with presents on Christmas morning?
Be personal and conversational
The language in some of these messages came across as vague and impersonal.  One letter referenced “being dedicated to the needs and aspirations” of members of the community, and works “to create and sustain a strong, engaged, and inclusive community.”  Yikes!
In one of the letters that did let me know how my gift would help, the organization wrote “the many less fortunate children who will experience the joy of Christmas because of you.”  Okay, but something better would be – Thanks to you, Jason will have presents to open on Christmas morning.
Don’t start your letter with “On behalf of X organization”
When you do, you are focusing on your organization, not your donor.  In my last post, I wrote about the importance of being donor-centered.
The first words your donor should see are thanks to you or you’re incredible (amazing, terrific, etc).
Recognize previous donations
I’ve donated to all these organizations before and none of them recognized that. Your donors want to feel as if you are communicating with them directly. Recognize past donations or welcome new donors.
Your thank you letter/note is the first step in good donor relations. Invest time in doing it well.
Need more information?  Read what these experts have to say.
Thank You Letters Donors Will Love
How to Write a Better Donation Thank You Letter (And Why It Matters)
Nine Clever Ways to Thank Your Donors

Photo by Iain Farrell via Flickr

Make a Resolution to Be Donor-Centered

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, writing
New Year’s resolutions are a mixed bag.  Most people make them with good intentions and then revert back to their old habits after a few weeks.
One resolution nonprofit organizations need to make (and keep) is to be donor-centered.  The term donor-centered is pretty self-explanatory.  You want to focus on your donors’ needs and interests and take into account that not all donors are the same.
Is your organization donor-centered?  Here are a few areas to look at.
Fundraising Appeals
You’d think fundraising appeals would be donor-centered, but many are not.  Some focus too much on the organization – saying how great they are. Your organization may be great, but let your donors figure that out. Your donors are the ones who are great and they want to hear how they can help you make a difference for the people/community you serve.
Donor-centered fundraising appeals are segmented to the appropriate audience.  Thank past donors or reference your relationship to a potential donor.  Maybe they are event attendees, volunteers, or friends of board members.
Many fundraising appeals are vague, impersonal, and filled with jargon.  Don’t say we are helping disenfranchised members of the community.  A donor-centered appeal would say something like – With your support, we can help low-income families find affordable housing.
Thank you letters
Even If organizations do invest time in creating a donor-centered appeal, they often fall short with their thank you letters.  Many come across as transactional and resemble a receipt. Yes, you need to acknowledge that the donation is tax deductible, etc, but most donors are more concerned about how their gift made a difference.
Marketing consultant Kivi Leroux Miller stresses catering more to your donors’ inner angels rather than their inner bookkeepers.  A donor-centered thank you letter (or better yet,a handwritten note), might read – You’re fabulous.  Thanks to your generous donation of $50, we can provide groceries for a family of four at the Southside Community Food Bank.
A donor-centered thank you letter recognizes each donor.  Is this the first time someone has donated?  If someone donated before, did she increase her gift?   Acknowledge this in your letter/note.
Newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to stay engaged with your donors throughout the year, but they, too, are often not donor-centered.
Some newsletters come across as self-promotional and are focused more on the wonderful things the organization is doing, as opposed to how their donors are helping them make a difference.
I recently received a newsletter in which one of the articles looked as if the organization took a press release and stuck it in their newsletter.  It was written in the third person and included quotes from the executive director and program directors.
A donor-centered newsletter article should be written in the second person, as should most of your communications.  Write to the donor and use the word you more often than we. Instead of including quotes from directors, let your donors hear from the people you serve.
Let’s say your organization just opened a community health center.  You could write –  Thanks to your support, residents in the Northdale neighborhood no longer have to travel five miles to get a check up.  “I’m so happy that I don’t have to take two busses to go to the doctor anymore”, said Mary, a long-time neighborhood resident.
Make a resolution to be donor-centered and stick with it throughout the year.  Be sure every message you send to your donors will make them feel special. 
Read on for more information.
A donor-centered organization, your donors, & relationship building
 10 Reasons this Fundraising Appeal Hits it Out of the Ballpark
Are you donor centered?

Photo by LC Nottasson via Flickr


Get Ready for 2014 – Creating a Communications Calendar

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, marketing, planning
Happy New Year! I hope you have taken time to put together fundraising and marketing plans. My last post in this series about getting ready for 2014 is to create a communications calendar (also known as an editorial calendar). 


I like the term communications calendar because it emphasizes the importance of communicating with your donors and other supporters all year round. One of the great things about having a communications calendar is you won’t get so stressed out trying to come up with content for your newsletters and other updates.

As you put together your communications calendar, think about how you will use different channels. You may only send out direct mail a few times a year, but send out a newsletter once a month and communicate by social media several times a week. You will often use a number of different channels when you send out a fundraising appeal or promote an event.

All your communication should be audience-centered and emphasize how you are making a difference for the people you serve and in the community.

Here are some categories you can use in your communications calendar. Some items will be time sensitive and others won’t be.

Events
Does your organization hold any events? Besides your events, are there other events in your community that would be of interest to your supporters? This is a great thing to share on social media.

Legislation
Advocacy alerts are a wonderful way to engage with your supporters. Be on the lookout for any federal or state legislation that’s relevant to your organization. Encourage people to contact their legislators about an issue or a bill. Report back to them with any updates, and thank them for getting involved.

Time of year
Is there something going on during a particular month that is pertinent to your organization? Perhaps it’s homelessness awareness month or your organization was founded in May 1994.

Thanksgiving, the holidays, and winter can be a difficult time for some people. How can you weave that into your work?

News stories
You won’t be able to predict news stories in advance. However, as something newsworthy comes up, see if that’s something you could share.

Fundraising and recruitment

Be sure to add your fundraising appeals to your communications calendar. You want to highlight these and not inundate your donors with a lot of other information at that time.

If your organization has specific times it needs to recruit volunteers, add that to your calendar, as well. 

Thank your donors
Figure out different ways to let your donors know how much you appreciate them. Do this at least once a month.

Ongoing content
If you are making a difference, you have stories to tell. Share your clients’ success stories. You could also profile a board member or volunteer.

Put together a collection of stories and profiles to use in your newsletter and website throughout the year. If you are profiling board members or volunteers, highlight what motivated them to serve on your board or volunteer with your organization. Keep it focused on your mission.

Keep it up
As you hear about other relevant information, add it to your calendar, so you will always have good content to share with your supporters.

Here is more information to help you create a communications/editorial calendar.


Editorial Calendars – Resources for You
Become Your Own Publishing Powerhouse with LightBox Collaborative’s 2014 Editorial Calendar
Photo by Adam Sporka via Flickr

Get Ready for 2014 – Creating a Marketing Plan

Ann Green Communications, marketing, planning
Marketing and communications often take a backseat to fundraising, even though they are closely related. You can’t raise money without clear messages and a good strategy to communicate those messages.


You need a marketing plan

Some organizations don’t have a marketing plan or they have one that’s sort of piecemeal.

If you have never created a marketing plan, you may want to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis or some other kind of organizational analysis to help you get focused. (See links below for more details.)

At the very least, you should create a plan that covers how you will communicate with your audience(s). Ideally, you should be looking at more than one year and your marketing plan needs to be consistent with your strategic plan.

If you already have a marketing plan and have been measuring your progress (Gold stars for you!), you can incorporate what’s worked in the past into your 2014 plan.

Don’t make the mistake of not taking your marketing and communications seriously. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you put together your marketing plan.

Who are you?

What does your organization do and what makes you unique? What is your message platform? If you’ve never created a consistent set of messages, you need to do that. How To Get Everyone In Your Organization To Be Consistent In Messaging

  
What are your needs and goals?
Each nonprofit has different needs. Everyone needs to raise money, but perhaps you also need members, clients, or volunteers. Come up with categories and goals and create a strategy for each. For example, if you need tutors or mentors, you need to come up with a recruitment plan.

Think about going beyond raising awareness. You need a call to action, such as donating, volunteering, attending an event, or contacting your legislator.

Who is your audience?
It’s not everyone. Sometimes it’s people who know you well, such as donors, and sometimes it’s not.

Craft your messages with your audience in mind. What would entice someone to donate, volunteer, or attend your event?

Communicating with your supporters
Reaching out to donors and other supporters is a huge part of your communications. Throughout the year you need to update them on how they are helping you make a difference. In my next post, I’ll write about creating a communications calendar to help you with that.

Communicating with an external audience

Here you want to reach out to people and groups who will be most receptive to your message or call to action. Sometimes you don’t need to look far. For example, you should have more luck promoting your event by asking your social media followers to share your announcement with their friends than you will if you post an event listing in the paper.


All nonprofits want media coverage, but plan carefully. Target the right publications and choose the right stories. Pitch something newsworthy.

Measure your progress
At least once a quarter look at your goals and figure out what is working, what isn’t, and how you can make improvements.

Use this dashboard to monitor your progress. Scroll down a bit for the marketing section.

Library of Sample Dashboard Indicators




Take some time to put together a well thought-out marketing plan. It will be time well spent.

Photo by Plantoo47 via Flickr

Once is Not Enough

Ann Green Communications, fundraising, planning
I imagine many of you have sent out your year-end appeal within the last few weeks. Are the donations pouring in? Maybe not, but don’t worry yet.


Even though the end of the year is when most nonprofits see the highest level of giving, it’s also a busy time for your donors.

Once is not enough and you need to follow up with friendly reminders. In most cases, you will use a multi-channel approach. This is contingent on the type of contact information you have and what channels your donors use. You may not have email addresses or phone numbers for all your donors.

It’s also important to make your follow-up messages positive. Don’t make your donors feel bad about not contributing yet.


Here are some ways to follow up with your donors.

By email
Email is often the easiest way to get your message across to a large number of people. You probably have email addresses for most of your supporters.


Send friendly reminders once a week. At the end of December, send messages a couple of times between December 27 and 31.

If possible, only send email reminders to people who haven’t donated. If you can’t do that, be sure to thank the people who have already donated. Continue to share success stories. You can also give updates on your progress, if you have a goal and a deadline.


Your email reminder should include a link to your user-friendly donation page.

By social media

Post similar reminders on social media. Provide updates and thank your donors. You can post reminders several times a week, but if you don’t have that many followers, you’ll want to spend your time elsewhere.

Again, include a link to your website to make donating easy.

By phone
Sometimes a quick phone reminder is all it takes to spark a donation. It’s up to you if you want to call everyone who hasn’t donated. Your best bet is to call people who have donated in the past, especially if they have given at a higher level.

This is also a good opportunity to thank your donors. Leaving a message is fine, but be sure to include a call back number and the link to your website.


By mail
In this case, you may want to target a few select groups. If a mailing address is the only contact information you have for a donor, then you’ll want to send a follow-up letter. You can also send letters to higher dollar donors. Be sure to include a pledge form and return envelope. Always make things easy for your donors.

#GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is December 3 and this is a great opportunity to remind your donors.  Find ways you can incorporate #GivingTuesday into your follow up plan.
Get ready for #GivingTuesday: resources for nonprofits

A Playbook To Kickstart Your Nonprofit’s #GivingTuesday Campaign

Is your nonprofit ready for #GivingTuesday?
It may seem like you are communicating a lot with your donors, and of course you need to be mindful of contacting them too much, but sending follow-up reminders makes a difference.

Photo by Phil Scoville via Flickr

Create a Thank You Plan

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, planning, writing
This post is included in the November Nonprofit Blog Carnival | Giving Thanks and Gratitude

You probably have a fundraising plan (if not you should) and maybe a donor relations plan, but do you have a thank you plan?

Nonprofit organizations spend a lot of time on their fundraising campaigns, but treat thanking their donors as an afterthought.

You need to spend just as much time thanking your donors as you do on fundraising.

Creating a thank you plan will help you stay focused on gratitude all year round. Donor retention rates keep plunging and some of the reasons are donors don’t feel appreciated and that they only hear from nonprofits when they are asking for money.

Here are some things to consider as you put together your thank you plan.

Plan to thank your donors right away
Every single donor, no matter how much they have given or whether they donated online, gets a thank you card/ letter mailed to them or receives a phone call.

Try to thank your donors within 48 hours. This shouldn’t be hard to do. Carve out some time each day you get a donation and thank your donors.

Plan to go beyond sending a boring thank you letter

Instead of sending a generic thank you letter, mail a handwritten card or call your donors. Calling your donors to thank them is something your board can do. It’s often a welcome surprise and can raise retention rates among first-time donors.

Here’s where planning comes in. Find board members, staff, and volunteers to make phone calls or write thank you notes. Come up with sample scripts. You may also want to conduct a short training.

If you can’t send handwritten cards or call all your donors, send them a personal and heartfelt letter. Don’t start your letter with “On behalf of X organization we thank you for your donation of….” Open the letter with “You are amazing” or use one of the suggestions from this post. 22 Delightful Ways to Say Thank You!

Add a personal handwritten note to the letter, preferably something that pertains to that particular donor. For example, if the donor has given before or attended one of your recent events, mention that. In addition, make sure all the letters are hand signed.

Let your donors know how much you appreciate them and highlight what your organization is doing with their donation.

Here is more information on how you can do a better job of thanking your donors and some sample phone scripts and letters.

Let’s Do a Better Job of Thanking Donors

Fundraisers, Fix Your Thank You Letters!!


Plan to keep thanking your donors all year round
As you put together your communications calendar, incorporate ways to thank your donors. Try say thank you at least once a month. Here are some ways to do that.

  • Send cards or email messages at Thanksgiving, during the holidays, Valentine’s Day, or mix it up a little and send a note of gratitude in June or September when your donors won’t be expecting it.
  • Invite your donors to connect with you via email and social media. Keep them updated with accomplishments and success stories. Making all your communications donor-centered will help convey an attitude of gratitude. Share accomplishments such as:

Thanks to you, we just started an afterschool program at the Northdale Middle School. Now these students have a safe place to meet and learn new skills.

  • Be sure to keep thanking your donors in your newsletter and social media updates. Emphasize that you wouldn’t be able to do the work you do without your donors’ support.
  • Create a thank you video and share it on your website, by email, and on social media. Our Favorite Nonprofit Thank You Videos 
  • Hold an open house at your organization or offer tours so your donors can see the inner workings of your nonprofit. 

Show Appreciation by Holding an Open House

The Power of Place – Making the Most of Tours For Donors

  • Keep thinking of other ways to thank your donors.
Creating a thank you plan will make it easier to keep showing appreciation to your donors all year round. If you treat them well, maybe they’ll treat you well the next time you send a fundraising appeal.

How to Make Your Website Donor-Friendly

Ann Green Communications, fundraising, website
Many of you are busy with your fall fundraising appeal. Even if you mail your appeal letter, a lot of people will donate online. If you are sending out reminders by email and social media, you are also including a link to the donation page on your website. 

From now until the end of December is the busiest time of year for fundraising. All of a sudden people will be flocking to your website.

Are you ready for all these visitors? Here are some ways to ensure that your website is donor-friendly.

Your donation page
Take a few minutes to check your donation page. Is it easy to use and navigate? Does it have an engaging message and photo? Is that message consistent with the one in your appeal letter?


Read on for more information on How to Create a Welcoming Donation Page 

Your home page
Let’s say you have a donor who wants to contribute, but doesn’t have immediate access to the link to your donation page. That person will Google your organization and be taken to your home page.

This means your home page needs a prominent Donate Now button, along with a friendly message letting people know your fall appeal is underway.

More information please
Having a donor-friendly website applies to all your web pages. What if someone wants to know more about a program you mention in your appeal letter? Does your site have that information? Is it easy to read and understand?

Maybe you have a prospective donor who wants to find out more about your organization’s work before she gives. Do you have some compelling stories and accomplishments to share?

Perhaps someone else wants to volunteer. Do you have up-to-date and clear information on how he can get involved?

You never know what will happen once someone enters your website. You need to be prepared for people to visit multiple pages, which, of course, you’d like them to do.

Are all your web pages up-to-date and audience-friendly? Use this website checklist to find out. A Website Checklist 

Be mobile friendly, too
More and more people are using their mobile phones and tablets to access the internet. Make sure your website is mobile friendly, too. Responsive design may be your best bet.

Mobile Friendly Websites for Nonprofits – Case Study


Keeping your website donor-friendly is relevant all year round, not just during a fundraising drive.

The internet is still a popular place to find information, and more people are donating online now. Don’t miss out by not having a donor-friendly website.

How to Create an Annual Report That Won’t Bore Your Donors

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, writing
What do you think of when you hear annual report? Are you picturing a long, boring document filled with wordy text and statistics? It doesn’t have to be like that.


You want to create an annual report that will engage your supporters and not bore them. But, before we get into how you can do that, here are few things to consider.

Does it make sense to produce an annual report? 
It might not. Nonprofit organizations aren’t required to produce an annual report, but they can be beneficial, if done well. Read on for more information to help you figure out if it makes sense for you to produce an annual report. Do Annual Reports Still Make Sense?

If you decide not to do an annual report, find another way to share accomplishments with your donors.

All your donors are not the same
You may want to consider different types of annual reports for different donor groups. Marketing expert Kivi Leroux Miller recommends an oversized postcard with photos and infographics. I think that’s great for most of your donors.

Your grant and corporate funders might want more detail, but not 20 pages. Aim for no more than four pages. Your funders are busy and don’t have a lot of time to read your annual report.

This Annual Reports Wiki includes some great examples including postcards and videos.

No matter what type of annual report you produce, here are some suggestions for creating one that won’t bore your donors.

Be donor centered. 
The purpose of an annual report is to show your donors how they are helping you make a difference for the people you serve.


Think about what your donors want (not what your board wants or what you have always done). They don’t want you to go on and on about how great your organization is. Share accomplishments like this –Thanks to you, 85% of the students in our tutoring program are reading at their grade level or above.

Make it visual
Find some engaging photos to include in your annual report. Photos can tell a story in an instant. Choose photos of people participating in an activity, such as a tutor helping her student with her reading.


Use colorful charts or graphs to highlight your financials. This is a great way to keep it simple and easy to understand.

Sprinkle in quotes and short testimonials to help break up any text. 


Tell a story
You can tell a story with words, a photo, or video. Share a success story about a person you have helped. For example, Cara used to struggle with her reading, but now reads at her grade level after weekly tutoring sessions with Amy, one of our volunteer tutors.

Be conversational
Write in the second person and use a warm, friendly tone. Ditch the jargon and passive voice.

Use everyday language such as – With your help we found affordable housing for over 100 homeless families. Now they no longer have to live in a shelter, motel, or their cars, and have a place to call home.


Break from tradition
Traditionally annual reports have included an introduction from the executive director or board chair. I find these often drone on and don’t entice you to read more. If you do include an introduction, make it brief, friendly, jargon-free, and filled with gratitude towards your donors for their support in helping you reach your goals.

Annual reports usually contain a donor list, which have pros and cons. Some donors want public recognition, but these lists take up space and most people aren’t going to read them.

You’ll have to decide if it makes sense to include one in print. You may want to include a list of donors at a certain level in your annual report and all your donors on your website. Whatever you decide, be sure to thank all your donors in this section and double and triple check that their names are spelled correctly.

Annual reports can be time consuming. Don’t let your hard work go to waste. Create an annual report that will capture your donors’ attention right away and not bore them.

Photo by Dion Gillard via Flickr